How do you backup your MacBook / Anyone have the Nifty MiniDrive?

[jimmyco2008]

Backup to a SD card only protects against 2 possible scenarios - hard drive failure and screwing up a file yourself. It does nothing to protect against theft or other loss.

Crashplan is great but needs a good internet connection. Best is a multipronged approaches I g time machine, CCC or equivalent, and Crashplan or similar.

Ask yourself this: If I lost my drive and all data how much would I be willing to pay to have it restored? That gives you a target price on how much you can spend on prevention.

Excellent advice- how much would you be willing to pay to have your data restored? I think for most people, the answer is "priceless" though haha.

So.... Time Capsule it is.

 

[GoingDark]

I back up to a NAS as well as over the internet to CrashPlan. While I love the "idea" of CrashPlan and will likely stick with a cloud backup solution in the future, I'll probably switch to something else when my subscription runs out as CrashPlan is dog-slow when uploading even though I have a fast internet connection with very fast upload speeds.

I've heard BackBlaze is better specifically with upload speeds so I may give that a try.

 

[glenthompson]

I back up to a NAS as well as over the internet to CrashPlan. While I love the "idea" of CrashPlan and will likely stick with a cloud backup solution in the future, I'll probably switch to something else when my subscription runs out as CrashPlan is dog-slow when uploading even though I have a fast internet connection with very fast upload speeds.

I've heard BackBlaze is better specifically with upload speeds so I may give that a try.

While initial backups to Crashplan are sluggish, it seems to keep up with changes easily. The only significant files I add are photos. All my others are fairly small. I still like having a good off site backup.

 

[PancakeEater101]

I currently just back up with TimeMachine to a Ubuntu Server running Netatalk, I don't have any important files on my Mac. The only reason I backup is so that if I got a new Macbook, or replaced the SSD the config would be the same

Is this the correct usage? could I restore the backup to a fresh system and have EVERYTHING configured the same? Or should I start using CCC instead?

 

[priitv8]

I've heard BackBlaze is better specifically with upload speeds so I may give that a try.

You can test it yourself: https://www.backblaze.com/speedtest/

 

[davidg4781]

Time Machine reminds you to plug in your external HDD if you haven't backed up in 10 days. Having a portable external that's a small form factor makes ensuring your backup plan is safe.

If I go away from home for over night, I take either my MBP or the external and leave the other at home. That way if one gets lost or stolen, or damaged, I have a backup ready to go.

I'm not sure if Time Machine can back up to two different volumes though, like a Time Capsule or 2 TM HDDs. Having a TC would be nice to have for those times I forget to plug in.

 

[Wirbowsky]

You have to take different scenarios into account and think how your backup strategy will help you for each of them.

Remember that to prove that you have a good backups strategy, you have to do some restore from time to time.


The first one, is accidental deletion or corruption of some data. Your computer is working fine, but you need some files that you have deleted last month thinking you would never need them again. For that scenario, Time Machine is a good tool as long as you have enough space.

Second scenario is you have an hardware issue like a crashed hard disk and data is lost. Again Time machine is a nice tool as long as you are willing to purchase an new Mac. Time machine backup cannot be read without a Mac.

Third scenario is you have an hardware issue like a broken screen. You cannot access your data but everything is still there. Do you have another device to read the data, you will wait of a repair...

Fourth scenario: the place you are living in has burned or everything has been stolen. In that case you need an external backup. I think it can be done with time machine.


My strategy is the following.
I have a Macbook Pro.
I use time machine onto a NAS.
Weekly I do backup of the complete NAS onto an attached USB disk.
Every four weeks, I take the USB disk and put in an external site.
At this time, I bring back another USB disk from the external site it will be used in my home for four weeks.

So in case of fire, I can recover data from a few weeks ago.

Then I also try not to be linked to much to Apple products by doing the following:
- All my music is stored in the NAS. So I could use that Music with any computer able to read music files (Windows, Linux whatever).
- Regularly, I export photos from Iphotos to the NAS. Same reason as music files.
- All my e-mails, calendars and contacts are in Gmail. So I am not tied to Apple products.

I am happy with the Apple software and hardware but I do not want to be forced to by a new Mac if a disaster happen. There is a fair chance to I would decide to buy a Mac but I take precaution to ensure I could also take another decision.

 

[steve1960]

I have a WD Thunderbolt array 2 x 4TB set up as RAID 1

Plus a 2TB Time Capsule with a 1TB USB HDD hanging off it.

Time Machine backs up my Mac Pro to the WD array and my wife's Mac Air to the TC.

The HDD holds an additional copy of all our photographs and home video.

I am pretty comfortable with this although it is all under one roof which is not so great.